A new report from the Federal Reserve of Dallas finds that Texas community colleges are showing small signs of recovery after long-running enrollment declines. Researchers cite shifting student pathways—more high school graduates are completing, but junior college enrollment has not kept pace, and some students are increasingly going out of state. The analysis suggests recovery momentum since the pandemic, with Texas now enrolling about 700,000 students in community colleges—still below roughly 750,000 students from 15 years ago. The report positions community colleges as adjusting to relevance pressures while continuing to face demographic and labor-market competition from work. For institutional planning teams, the finding highlights how enrollment volatility can persist even when pandemic-era downturns stabilize.